Automatic safety-brake for railways.



C. E. COLESTON.

AUTOMA-TK; SAFETY BRAKE FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23. 1916.

1,224,865, Patented May 1, 1917,

. 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

[flaw 62760129822 C. E. COLESTON. AUTOMATIC SAFETY BRAKE FOR RAILWAYS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23. 19:6.

Patented May 1, 1917.

27 7451723 ef/azzde 27 80/6676 '04: NOR/vs PEYERS m. nwmurua, wAsmmnum b. c.

CLAUDE E. COLES'ION, OF FELLOWS, CALIFORNIA, ASSIG-NOR 0F ONE-HALF TO MERICOS H. WHITTIER, OF. LOS. ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY-BRAKE FOR RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1, 1917.

Application filed February 23, 1916. SeriaINo. 79,956;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLAUDE E; GoLns'roN, a citizen of the United Fellows, in the county of Kern and State of California, have invented new. anduseful. Improvements 1n Automatic Safety Brakes for Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention. relates to an auxiliary. automatic brake for railway cars.

It is an object of this invention toconstruct an, automatic brake for railway cars which is especially useful: in spotting cars in the switch yards. For this. purpose, the brake mechanism is providedtwith a gravity trigger car which is engaged by a movable stop arranged in the middle of the railroad track. The engagement of the stop and the gravity trigger causes a clutch attached to? one of the axles of. the car to be operated. The clutch is. operatively connected. to a brake setting lever. The brakes are applied with successively increasing force after the clutch hasbeen thrown in so that the car wilL come to a stop in a very short within a cars length. The track in the switch yardsis provided with a number of spaced stops which may be operated from a tower by any suitable means. As the cars equipped with my automatic brake are switched back and forth, it is obvious that any car may be spotted at the desired place by the operator in the tower without the necessity of the presence of a brakeman-on the car, operating the brakes.

Vhile my brake is especially useful for spotting cars in switch yards, the invention is not limited thereto. It isalso an object of this invention to prevent cars from breaking loose from a train or running away if standing on the side track of any grade. My automatic brake will become operative and stop the cars when the air brake with which the modern railway cars are universally equippech is not connected up.

It is another object of this invention to stops for engaging thegravity trigger.

It is another object of my invention. to.

connect my brake with the air brake system of the car so that as long as the brakes areheld outof engagement with the wheels States, residing at.

suspended from the bottom of the distance usually are provided with horizontal otally connected tothe lower end of by the pneumatic air brake, my auxiliary brake will likewise be inoperative, but as soon as thereis no pressure'in the air brake cylinder, thus rendering the air brake in.- operative, my improved safety brake wilt become operative.

WVith these and other objects. in view which will appear as the description pro.- ceeds, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination ofparts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specificatioml have illustrated. a convenient and. practical embodiment of= my invention; and in which:

Figure 1 is a top; plan view of the car frame of a railway car equipped with my safety brake, said brake being in inoperative position.

Fig- 2 is a: similar view showing tliebrake in operative position, the car frame having F 1g. 4 is a view similar to Fig; 3 showing the brake in inoperative position.

Fig: 5 is a sectionalIview of the front axle and wheels. of the car showing the brake operating clutch, on line 5-5,. Fig; 2.

10'designates the frame of a railwaycar in which'a' revoluble front axle .11 and a rear axle 12 provided wan. wheels 13 at their ends are} suitably journaled directly in pedestals of the car frame, althoughit will be understood that the usual construction of wheel trucks having four or six wheels journaled therein may be substituted for the construction shown. Asfar as the present invention is concerned, it is immaterial whether trucks for axles are used or whether the axles are directly journaled to the car frame. Each. wheel is provided with brake shoes 14 arranged at opposite sides thereof and adapted to engagethe rim thereof. The brake shoes on the same side of each pair of wheels are connected by a horizontal bar 15. The brake bars of each pair of wheels arms or links ends of said arms 16 are piva toggle lever 17, the ends of said arms 16 being spaced from each other on said togglelever and the lever itself being disposed obliquely and outwardly from the car. When the bog gle lever 17 is moved toward a vertical po- 16. 1 The inner sition the arms 16 will be moved toward each other, thereby moving the brake bars 15 and the brake shoes 1.4 carried thereby into brake setting position. 18 denotes a horizontal brake operating lever pivoted at 19 to a transverse beam 20 extending across the car frame to the long arm 21 of said brake operating lever at a point near the fulcrum 19. A toggle lever operating link 22 is pivotally connected to said brake lever and to the upper end of the toggle lever 17 applying the brakes to the rear wheels of the axle 12. A second toggle lever operating link 23 is pivotally connected to the outer end of the short arm 24 of the brake lever 18, and to the toggle lever 17 at the front of the car. A helical spring 25 connected at one end to the outer end of the long arm 21 of the brake lever and at the other end to the rear end of the car frame 10, normally holds the brake operating lever in inoperative position as shown in Fig. 1.

The front axle 11 is provided with a clutch comprising a stationary member 26 with which a movable clutch member 27 is adapted to engage by means of a clutch lever 28 fulcrumed at 29 to a bracket 30 suitably secured to the car frame. The end of the clutch lever 28 which is adjacent the movable clutch member 27 is forked and provided with fingers to engage a circular groove 31 in the movable clutch member. It may be remarked that the specific construe tion of the clutch member is immaterial, and any suitable clutch may be substituted therefor. The bracket 30 is provided with a slot 33 in which a pin 35 is horizontally mounted from which a gravity trigger or clutch lever locking and releasing member 36 is suspended. When the trigger 36 is in its normal vertical position shown in' full lines, the upper part 37 thereof will slightly project above the face of the bracket 30 as clearly shown in Fig. 3. This upper part 37 of the detent 36 acts as a catch or stop for the clutch lever 28 preventing the same from being moved into clutch operating position.

The car is equipped with a pneumatic brake of any suitable construction and when the car is connected in the train to the other cars, the brakes are applied by the pneumatic brake cylinders, while the auxiliary brake mechanism remains inoperative. For this purpose, I have shown a train pipe line 38 connected to a combined compressed air reservoir and brake cylinder 39 of any preferred construction. The combined reservoir and brake cylinder 39 is suitably secured to the body of the car and has its operating piston rod 40 pivotally connected to the brake lever 18 intermediate the ends of the long arm 21, the pivotal connection being provided with a slot 41 allowing for the curvilineal movement of the brake lever 18. When the pneumatic brake cylinder is 'in operation, the piston rod 40 will move the brake operating lever 18 into operative position as shown in Fig. 2, thereby operating the two toggle levers 17 which in turn apply the brakes to the wheels.

The clutch lever 28 is normally held in inoperative position by means of the following mechanism: A pneumatic cylinder 42 suitably secured to the under side of the car frame is connected to the train pipe 38 by pipe 43. A piston 44 is slidably mounted in said pneumatic cylinder 42. Said piston when the car is connected up in the train and the air brake system is in operation, will occupy the outer end of the cylinder adjacent the clutch lever and will be held there by the air pressure against the tension of a coiled spring 45 which is interposed between the outer cylinder head 46 and said piston. A piston rod 47 connected to said piston has its outer end pivotally attached to the outer end of the clutch lever 28. It should be noted that in this position, the lever 28 covers the slot 33 so that the trigger 36 is in the inclined position shown in Fig. 4, with its upper portion 37 below the upper face of the bracket 30.

When the pressure in the train pipe 38 is released the brake cylinder 39 will become operative actuating the brake operating 1ever 18 and setting the brakes as will be understood. The reduction in pressure of the train pipe when the pneumatic brakes are applied is not very great, and consequently the piston 44 will be forced toward the inlet port end to a slight extent only, by the action of the coiled spring 45. Under normal condition therefore, the clutch lever 28 will not throw the movable clutch member 31 into operative position. However when the car is disconnected, and consequently there is no pressure in the train line, the pressure of the coiled spring 45 will move the piston 44, operating the clutch lever 28 so that the brakes will be applied by means ofa flexible member 48 whose ends are attached to the movable clutch member 31 and to the outer end of the long arm 21 of the brake operating lever 18. It will be obvious that as the car is moved and the axles revolve, the flexible member 48 will be wound upon the movable clutch member as shown in Fig. 2. thereby operating the brake operating le ver 18.

When it is desired to connect a car to the train or to move the cars in the switch yards unconnected with other cars, it is necessary to release the clutch. For this purpose I have provided a manually operated clutch lever operating rod 49 whose inner end is pivotally connected to the outer end of the lever 28, the outer end of said rod 49 being slidably mounted to the under side of the car frame.

When the rod 49 is moved in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 2, thereby swinging the clutch operating lever 28 against the tension of the spring 45 in the cylinder 42, the trigger 36 will swing downwardly occupying the vertical position shown in full lines in Fig. 3. The upper part 36 of said trigger will project above the upper surface of the bracket 30 so that when the rod 49 is released, the clutch operating lever 28 will engage the upper part 37 of said trigger and be retained in inoperative position.

My automatic brake device is especially valuable for switching cars. For this purpose, I provide in the middle of the tracks of the switchyard at suitable intervals, a number of trigger engaging stop members 51 suitably pivoted at 5525 and operated from a distance by any suitable means such as a flexible member 53, or otherwise. Assuming that it is desired to spot the car at a certain place in the switch yard, the stop member at that particular spot is operated by means of the flexible member 53 so as to move said stop member into vertical or operative position adapted to engage the lower end of the trigger 36, as the car passes over the stop member. As the trigger 36 engages the stop member 51 the same will be moved into inclined position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3 and the upper part 37 of said trigger will be moved below the upper surface of the bracket 30, thereby allowing free movement of the clutch operating lever 28. The coiled spring 45 in the pneumatic cylinder 42 will now actuate the clutch lever thereby setting the brakes by means of the flexible member 48 which operates the brake lever 18 as will be understood.

It is thus seen that I have constructed an automatic safety brake which is inoperative during the normal operating of the cars when connected in a train, but which becomes operative as soon as the pressure within the train pipe is greatly reduced. This would be the case when the car breaks loose from the train. Furthermore, my brake is useful in spotting cars in switch yards, said brake being operated from a distance by means of stop members engaging the dependent trigger which actuates the brake mechanism.

While I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention as now known to me, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts of my apparatus may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an automatic. safety brake for rail- Copies of this patent may be obtained for Way cars, the combination of a car frame, axles therefor, a brake operating lever, yielding means for normally holding said lever in inoperative position, an air brake mechanism adapted to move said lever into brake operating position, a train pipe line connected with said brake mechanism, a clutch on one of said axles, a clutch operating lever, a pneumatic cylinder connected with said pipe line, a piston movable in said cylinder and operatively connected to said clutch lever, a spring tending to move said piston into operative position, manually operated means for moving said clutch lever into clutch releasing position against the tension of said spring, locking means for holding said clutch lever in inoperative po sition, and a flexible connection between said clutch and said brake operating lever, said connection being adapted to operate said brake lever when said clutch is fast to said axle.

2. In an automatic safety brake for railway cars, the combination with a car truck having axles and wheels rotatably mounted thereon, of brake shoes adapted to engage said wheels, pneumatic brake operating mechanism for moving said shoes against the peripheries of the wheels, a clutch mounted upon one of the axles beneath the truck, means for actuating it to become fixed to rotate with the axle, a trigger adapted to hold the clutch in its inoperative position, actuating means for releasing the trigger and permitting the clutch to be come locked, and means operated by the clutch when in its locked position whereby the brake shoes will be set against the wheels without the aid of the pneumatic brake mechanism.

3. In an automatic safety brake for railway cars, the combination with the running gear thereof, of brake shoes adapted to engage the periphery of the wheels of said gear, pneumatic air brake mechanism for forcing said shoes against said wheels, a sleeve mounted upon one of the axles of the running gear, means whereby said sleeve may be locked to rotate with said axle, a trigger adapted to normally maintain the sleeve in a disengaged position, means for actuating the trigger in a manner to release the sleeve, flexible connecting means whereby the rotation of said sleeve will move .the brake shoes against the wheels independent of the action of the pneumatic brake mechanism, and a pneumatic cylinder adapted to be actuated to cause the sleeve to disengage the axle and become locked in inoperative position by the trigger.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

CLAUDE E. COLESTON.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. O. 

